Premiership title hots up

[imaufo]

SYDNEY, March 25 AAP - Former Sydney trainer John Size continued his remarkable first season in Hong Kong with a double at Sha Tin last night to edge to within three winners of premiership leader Tony Cruz.
Both Size's winners, Saintly Partners and Darwin, were ridden by Shane Dye who made an unsuccessful round trip to Sydney at the weekend for Golden Slipper day.
Size is in equal second place on the trainers' table with Ivan Allan on 37 wins while Dye is also equal second on the jockeys' ladder.
He and Felix Coetzee have both ridden 43 winners this term, seven less than Douglas White.
Size's 37 winners have come from just 162 runners compared with Allan's 321 starters and Cruz's 302.
AAP TURF cw

[imaufo]

When I first posted this the link wouldnt work...I was taken back to " big bust" the original...very strange. I see now it has dissapeared back into cyberspace.

[hobbes]

pity you didn't manage to save "big bust" ufo rather than have it cyberlost still.
would be very surprising now if size did not manage to take out the premeirship. good luck to him. ;) ;) ;)

[the mad mafoo]

Stricken Warrior: John Size's Magical Warrior is urged to his feet after wanting to lie down on the track as concerned jockey Shane Dye looks on. Picture by Antony Dickson
Promising young stayer Magical Warrior caused a sensation at a gloomy Happy Valley last night when he was struck with a colic attack just minutes before the main race. A Hong Kong Derby runner just over three weeks ago, the John Size-trained four-year-old had been well backed as the main threat to hot favourite Monza King but looked anything but as he lay down on the track to alleviate the pain in his digestive system.
Magical Warrior stood up soon after and was hustled away to the stabling area by the Jockey Club vets as he was announced as a scratching, saving punters millions of dollars in bets.
"I've never seen that before," said a stunned Size. "It has obviously been building through the day and just the excitement of the approaching race has brought it on.
"I'm glad it happened when it did because he certainly couldn't have run any good like that and might have done some permanent damage. Still, he isn't out of the woods yet and we have to see how bad he is."
The late scratching was a precursor to the defeat of Monza King in the slushy conditions and the first Hong Kong win for the David Hill-trained Cupid (Eric Saint-Martin) at his 38th start since arriving from Ireland.
The son of Epsom Derby winner Generous had been gelded soon after arriving in Hong Kong and apparently took more than six months to get over the loss, but the irony was lost on part-owner John McNaught as he expressed his feelings on finally winning a race with the six-year-old stayer.
"It's almost better than sex," said a jubilant McNaught. "Patient? Talk about patient! When he came here he had a very good background in Ireland and we thought he would win a lot sooner than this.
"But at last, at last, it's happened. It isn't as though he ran bad races, he was often unlucky, but we knew there was one in him. Usually the owner is just poor bugger paying the bills, but I can tell you tonight it is great to be one of the connections."
While Size was on a wait-and-see with Magical Warrior, the night had begun in better fashion as the eight-year-old Authorised took the trainer back to the championship lead and started a winning double for jockey Dwayne Dunn.
"That's great, I'm back in the swing," said Dunn, who followed up with Tabbris in the second for David Hayes and was placed at his only other ride for the night. "I've had that suspension which took me out of circulation for a little while, but a double tonight is just what I needed to make sure everyone knows I'm still here."
Dunn has been the find of the season among the jockey ranks and finds himself in fifth spot on the ladder with 27 wins after coming to Hong Kong relatively unheralded last year and unable to show his wares when a fall put him out of action after just a handful of rides.
Backmarker Authorised surprised when he was one of the first to jump away last night and Dunn planted him right on the back of the speed from the outset. "When he jumped so well I was a bit worried because he needs to have cover, but once another one came across in front of him, he travelled beautifully and just happened to have found a race where he was a bit too good," he said.
Douglas Whyte edged away at the top of the jockeys' table when Run And Win bolted away in the eight race at his first run for Manfred Man Ka-leung, the second time around. After just 13 starts, Run And Win has been in five trainers' names - Tony Millard, Wylie Wong Wai-lit, Man and then John Size before returning to Man's yard.
"I am very grateful to the owner for supporting me again," Man said. "This is a very good horse and tonight Douglas rode him behind the pace. I always wanted him ridden this way before, but the jockeys never listen to me. I think when he is ridden this way and relaxes, he is going to get a strong 1400 metres at least."
Jockey Alex Yu was in raptures after wining the sixth on Wong Tang-ping's Resourceful Prince, giving the rider his first winner since dislocating a collarbone at Happy Valley on November 6.
Yu had returned to the saddle just last month and rode cleverly to win on the gelding, who had had his own injury worries of late, having been scratched with a nail through a hoof and then a bout of colic since he last raced. He was too strong at the finish for Hail Winner and the Alex Wong Siu-tan trained I Win, but Wong Siu-tan had earlier scored with improving young stayer Allez Allez (Howard Cheng) to keep the winners ticking over.
Gerald Mosse made a rare link with the Lawrie Fownes stable in the fourth to win on Sight First, who had been most unlucky at his previous outing. And Felix Coetzee was seen at his best on front-running grey Country Dragon as the Tony Cruz-trained gelding put a cap on the pattern of the night, leading throughout on a track which favoured frontrunners.
Last night's huge Triple Trio carryover will produce an even bigger jackpot next Wednesday night at Happy Valley after there was no $10 winning ticket. The pool of $100,233,061 produced just a lone $2 winning ticket, leaving more than $80 million to start the TT pool next week.